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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Pork Belly Confit and a Pork Masterclass at Restaurant Atelier

It was the first time I had been in a professional kitchen and the chef Darren is an incredible bloke, he instantly made us feel welcome and at home.

One of the dishes he demonstrated for us was pork belly confit. I have never cooked confit before but Darren made it seem so achievable, and so with Mothers Day approaching I had a reason to cook something special.

The pork belly is placed in a roasting dish with fat, covered with foil and then cooked on low in the oven for 5 hours.

It is brought to room temperature then wrapped in cling film and left in the fridge overnight with weight on top.

The belly is then cut into neat slices and the skin crisped up in a pan.

It was perfect.

The skin was beautifully crisp, and the meat melt in your mouth.

I am still astonished that I was able to create such a dish.

What else did the class show me? Well we ate loads of porky samples!

And how to cook a crispy pork belly.

We got to see every stage of the pork belly confit process.

And of course taste its deliciousness.

You would not believe the pork 'bubble', achieved by drying out the skin and deep frying.

In case all that (plus more) wasn't enough, you then sit down and enjoy an amazing meal together.

The pork shoulder was roasted for 12 hours, the meat falling apart and the skin perfectly crackled.

It was served with a gorgeous sauce (Darren also showed us how to create) and wonderful sides of freshly smoked pine mushrooms, fresh salad and chickpea ragout.

Want to join a #porkfest masterclass too? Well on the last sunday of each month you can.

Just contact the lovely Karen (via twitter - if you are not a twitterer I'm happy to contact Karen for you) but be quick because I am positive places are snapped up!

Exactly the kind of thing I would like to do! How fun. I've never heard of pork belly confit. In Louisiana (deep So. U.S.), we grew up with pork rinds...called 'chitlins'. They have them in all kinds of flavors. Hope you get to take another class!

WOW, your confit pork belly looks AMAZING! I agree, the class was great...I cooked the roast Pork Belly at home last night and it was PERFECT! Wonder what other tricks Chef Darren has up his sleeves for us to learn?

What a great class. I love all of these dishes. I would love to try that pork confit. I have bought pork belly before but it never sits as high as that, it's always much flatter like the crispy skinned pork belly shown. I would also like to roast a pork shoulder for 12 hours to have the meat just fall from the bone - how delicious xx

About Me

I love to cook. I love my family. This is my little place where I share the food that we eat together. I am a mum from Sydney with an amazing husband and two beautiful young children. I work part time as a hospital scientist.